Through Thick and Thin

: Obesity, slimming-programs and other totally unrelated issues....

Obesity is the topic of hot discussion these days and thus no wonder the trend in fashion is ‘slimming-programs’- whether it be bollywood actresses taking to size zero figures or slimming down of the paychecks of the BPO sector. And yet in some places obesity seems to have got such an upperhand that slimming-programs do not seem to be working, like the very very obese price-tags of almost everything, from vegetables to automobile fuel. Every other day a not-at-all-obese man (read Manmohan Singh) promises us that steps are being taken to remedy this problem. But the very next day a very noisy group of immature people (read opposition MPs) accuse Mr. Sharad Pawar ,who happens to be quite obese both physically as well as financially, of not doing anything to reduce the prices of onions (Don't start wondering how the International Cricket Council President can reduce onion prices - he actually happenes to be our agricultural minister too). I must mention, by the way, that our country is unique where elections are often lost and won on the basis of price of onions. But there is a little piece of the jigsaw puzzle that does not fit into the picture. Mr Laloo Yadav and Mr Mulayam Singh (who is not really as gentle a man as his name suggests) are constantly complaining that they are unable to properly fill their stomachs due to high food prices, and yet I you can see they are just as obese as they were two years back, possibly even more. Then Mr Shashi Tahroor, a person who few years back had almost become the UN Secretary General , was found to have a ‘fat’ share in an IPL team and so was cut down to size (as a result of which he has a ‘slim’ chance getting back to top level politics).

Politics aside, there are many other areas where slimming-programs are being applied unnecessarily as well. Suddenly out of the blue, someone (or something) is thought to be obese, and is ‘slimmed’ down, like Kareena Kapoor, who without any rhyme or reason, felt it necessary to shed 20 kgs (unfortunately, a visiting team of nutritionists from the UNO thought that ours is a country so affected by poverty that even celebrities are victims of hunger and malnutrition). Then of course, there is the Indian Gen-X (and Gen-Y and Gen-Z and various other ‘new’ generations) who are hell bent on ‘slimming down’ their waistlines, as well as other aspects of their life. Even the age old English vocabulary hasn’t been spared. Various English words, which they think are too obese for them to digest, have been slimmed down to unimaginable extents. The culprits of course are telecom operators, Twitter, Facebook etc. who think it to be a crime if someone writes something more that 160 characters long. So, as de say- u cant alwys expct us 2 rit all words prperly. D wrds in eng lang r 2 long, n it wont fit in2 sms neways. (If you have understood what was written, then you too can begin cutting excess fat out of your words from now on). Then again talking about this magazine itself, I had expected this to be quite a fat issue with lots and lots of contributions but unfortunately due to dearth of articles, the magazine got slimmed down. I hope we manage to come out with a bit more ‘obese’ issue next time.

Oh! I totally forgot to write about the causes of obesity, the way it can be tackled and the steps to be taken to get your body back to shape. But unfortunately, if I write any further, this article itself would become too obese and the chances of the readers going through the whole of it would be very slim. And being the editor, I’d not like that to happen. So stay in shape, and say NO to obesity, till we come out with the next ‘slim’ issue of our Class Magazine.

From the Editor's Study Table

(I wrote the following article as the editor of my class magazine which was published in JULY"10)

It gives me immense pleasure to present my readers with the very first issue of The XI-B Class Magazine. Lest I forget, here itself I’d like to convey my heartfelt thanks to our English teacher Madam Poonam Saluja without whose guidance & encouragement this magazine would not have seen the light of the day. (Savour this statement because hardly ever would you find students thanking their teacher for giving them an assignment). And I’m equally thankful to all those who have contributed their articles, poems and stories. I’d be much more proud of myself and all my classmates if we can continue this work and bring out more issues of our Class Magazine regularly.

The title of this piece may sound rather odd to the reader. Of course, the editor’s notes are usually titled “From the editor’s desk”, but since the editor of this magazine does not have a desk, so he writes from his ‘study-table’ instead. All puns aside, getting to be the editor of this magazine has really been a dream come true me. Ever since I remember I’d started writing articles and poems for the School Magazine, I’ve always aspired to become, someday, the editor of the same. Today, as the editor of the Class Magazine I feel as if I’ve almost fulfilled my aspiration. And yet when I was nominated (okay, let’s be honest... I was not nominated, I volunteered) as the one of the editors of this Magazine, I found myself asking the question, “What after all is the job of the editor?” The two things that came to mind were – writing the editor’s note (which I’m doing right now) and ensure that all the articles are well written and up to the mark (which I’ve already done).

When I volunteered for being the editor, I really had no idea of what an editor’s note should look like. Being honest, I hardly ever read magazines (I only read them when I’m stuck in a waiting room, with nothing to do, and I suddenly find a tableful of magazines. Thus I was wondering how to start writing the editor’s note, how will I conclude it, and most importantly how to decide on the contents. So, as soon as I reached home, I took up a periodical and started glancing through “From the editor’s desk”. I had barely read 5 lines when I snapped it shut I thought’ “No way, that’s not how I’m going to write.” Believe it or not, that evening I found myself performing a search in the internet ‘How to write editor’s note’. When nothing worthwhile turned out, I started looking for definition of the term ‘editor’s note’ itself. The definition was nothing unexpected but I also came across this statement on a webpage “....the editor’s note reflects the personality and the writing style of not only the editor but the whole magazine as a whole. It is the editor’s note which attracts readers to the publication...” That was all that I wanted to know. And I decided right then that I was going to write it my way. So here I am, writing from my study table and in my very own way. (Editor’s note should be a little bit formal, and mine is a bit to informal I guess, but then this is my way).

When the topic has come to ‘the way of writing I would like to say here that the way of writing, in my opinion, should not be excessively rigid or formal unless, like, you are writing to your principal asking leave for a day (If you are too informal, he might give you permanent leave from school. I don’t think you’d like that to happen, do you???). Whatever is written is fine as long as it conveys what you want to say. And there should always be touch of humour to the writing (which I feel is essential to keep the reader interested). Another very important aspect (or rather I may say the most important aspect) to be kept in mind while writing is originality. A creative piece should be your creation not your brother’s, sister’s or mom’s or dad’s and definitely should not be plagiarised from the internet. In the world of language and literature, originality is equivalence of honesty and plagiarism is just as good as murder. (I’m also assuming here with full faith that all contributions in this magazine are original.)

Moving on to the contents of the magazine, I must say I had a really tough time trying to figure out how to arrange the various contributions as they were on various topics and themes. Towards the beginning you will find factual articles and debates. Among these “Hello, I’m from the future” is a very interesting article on time travel. Then there are various poems, some painful, some humorous, some on student life while some about friendship. Among them, “The song of the Girl Child” is a poem which I feel will touch the hearts of each and all leave a very important message etched in our minds. “The student PAIN” will provide some comic relief after some heavy reading. Then there are a collection of poems on the topic “MOTHER”. These poems are unique in the sense that each one of the have been has been written not by any one person but by groups of ten-ten students. And then if you love satires a la Vikram Seth then “Be the change you want to see” is definitely the poem for you. Further on, there are some beautiful poems on nature, among which “Trees cannot name the seasons” is one which I’m sure will create vivid visual imagery in your minds. The final few articles are the views of various students on their own life and the ‘way of living’ in general. “I, Me and Myself” is an exhilarating read, as it unravels the conflicts in the mind of adolescents. It is typically the type of article that one expects to find in School Magazines or Class Magazines.

This magazine, and for that matter every magazine, is forum for sharing and collaboration of thoughts and ideas. And to make that a success, I’d recommend the reader to go through each and every piece, whether poem article or story, and try to absorb the explicit as well as the implicit messages in them.

The fact that I’ve been able to write as far as this is an (extraordinary) achievement in itself for me (for statistic’s sake, it’s already crossed 1000 words). Verse flows easily from my pen but when it comes to prose, and especially something like editor’s note, I find myself fumbling and my pen starts stumbling.(you see, my prose inadvertently turns into verse now and then) So, let me not write any more, lest you get so bored that you will not read any further. I just hope that you have a pleasant as well as exciting journey through the pages of The XI-B Class Magazine.

Happy Reading!!!